scholarly journals MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LITIGATION: DO WE NEED A PARADIGM SHIFT IN OUR APPROACH TO HANDLING MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE DISPUTES?

Obiter ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Lerm

This article takes a critical look at the current state of affairs of both our public as well as private healthcare sectors in South Africa. The focus of this article is to try and find reasons for the exorbitant amounts of monies spent on litigation, which our country can ill afford. What will be considered is whether we need a paradigm shift in our approach to handling medical negligence disputes? What will also be introduced as part of the suggested solutions are practices that can be put in place. It is especially the introduction of mediation as oversight mechanism and other practices that will receive wide attention.

Obiter ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 348-370
Author(s):  
Marc Welgemoed ◽  
Henry Lerm

This article has a critical look at the current state of affairs in palliative care in South Africa. While euthanasia remains unlawful in South Africa, there is only one alternative – namely, palliative care – to mitigate pain and symptoms, make life tolerable, and ease the emotional stress of dying for patients and their families. Palliative care, unlike euthanasia, has always been regarded as a sound medical practice, ethically, morally and legally. The practice the world over includes family, friends and community. However, no system or legislation has been put in place in South Africa to serve as a guideline for end-of-life practices. The focus of this article is to try to establish guidelines through a multidisciplinary approach that includes the family and makes use of community resources to improve the quality of life of patients and families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering.


2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juanita Meyer

The professional training of pastoral therapists has been a topic of controversy for many years in South Africa. Up to date, the training of pastoral workers has been limited to the study of ministry and as such is limited by the primary aims and outcomes of this curriculum. In a post-apartheid, post-colonial South Africa, the need for pastoral workers is intensified by the needs of community- and faith-based organisations for trained and registered therapists to alleviate the counselling needs of their beneficiaries on all social levels. This article discusses the current state of affairs of the training and curriculum related to the profession of pastoral therapy in the context of South Africa, the various sociopolitical and religious needs that are still left unanswered in the field, and makes recommendations for the registration and accreditation of the profession with a specific curriculum focused on multicultural, multi-spiritual and post-modern nuances. The author argues that such a curriculum, accredited by a statutory body, can operate as a national health resource, will be more cost-effective than other related health services and may transform the social justice landscape related to both the providers and beneficiaries of this type of care.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-289
Author(s):  
Nina G. Krasnodembskaya ◽  

The ethnographic focus of the Russian Indological school was mainly developed in St. Petersburg and, above all, in the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (MAE). The author identifies five main stages of its development. Thus, the purpose of the article is to determine the time frame, the main life circumstances of a particular stage, the main actors, the tools and tasks of scientific activity, key scientific activities and the main result/product of labor. The first period refers to the last third of the XIX century and is associated with the name of Ivan Minaev (1840–1890), founder of the Russian Indological School. The next stage is connected with the names of the director of the MAE Vasily Radlov and the Indologists Alexander and Lyudmila Mervart, who carried out a special ethnographic expedition to Ceylon and India in 1914–1918, for the reorganization of the scientific and educational activities of the museum. The early Soviet period (from 1917 to the middle of the 20th century) was connected with the separation of MAE from world science and other restrictions, but Indologists (Virendranath Chattopadhyaya, Valery Krasnodembsky, etc.) at that time found ways to acquire new ethnographic knowledge, the directions of scientific research were partly expanded. The revival of all areas of MAE Indological activity occurred after the liberation of the countries of South Africa from colonial dependence. The current state of affairs in the MAE inspires a certain optimism. There is a well-prepared team of Indologists and the most important traditions have been preserved.


2020 ◽  
pp. 102-150
Author(s):  
Jonathan Herring

This chapter examines the legal and ethical aspects of medical negligence. It begins with an overview of the law and medical malpractice. It then discusses the law of negligence; the law of contract; medical malpractice litigation in practice; legal costs; the perception that medical negligence litigation is unsatisfactory; the NHS Redress Act 2006; the ‘no fault’ scheme; and the law governing medicines. The law in this area seeks to strike a balance between ensuring patients receive compensation if they have been harmed as a result of bad treatment, and allowing doctors professional freedom to determine which treatment is most appropriate for a particular condition.


Author(s):  
KKL Pilusa ◽  
ML Shipalana

It is a global concern that most local spheres of government are usually faced with a major challenge of meeting the basic needs of citizens, particularly in the developing countries such as South Africa, where majority of people depending entirely on public services. It is observed that the local spheres of government are unable to carry out their constitutional mandate to provide public goods and services such as education, housing health, water and sanitation. This situation, among others, is mainly exacerbated by ineffective innovative management practices. This article sought to navigate innovative management practices in the local spheres of government in South Africa and suggests strategies that can be applied for service delivery improvement. The article used conceptual framework to analyse innovative management practices in the context of the local spheres of government. In the process, literature has revealed that most of local spheres of government are mainly characterised with ineffective innovative management practices. These management practices include, strategic planning, operational plans and performance management systems. It is evident that the current state of affairs, drastically affects service delivery improvement. This article suggests collaborative approach as mechanism to enhance service delivery in the local spheres of government.


Author(s):  
Jonathan Herring

This chapter examines the legal and ethical aspects of medical negligence. It begins with an overview of the law and medical malpractice. It then discusses the law of negligence; the law of contract; medical malpractice litigation in practice; legal costs; the perception that medical negligence litigation is unsatisfactory; the NHS Redress Act 2006; the ‘no fault’ scheme; and the law governing medicines. The law in this area seeks to strike a balance between ensuring patients receive compensation if they have been harmed as a result of bad treatment, and allowing doctors professional freedom to determine which treatment is most appropriate for a particular condition.


Chelovek RU ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 217-220
Author(s):  
Natalia Rostova ◽  

The article analyzes the current state of affairs in philosophy in relation to the question «What is hu-man?». In this regard, the author identifies two strategies – post-humanism and post-cosmism. The strat-egy of post-humanism is to deny the idea of human exceptionalism. Humanity becomes something that can be thought of out of touch with human and understood as a right that extends to the non-human world. Post-cosmism, on the contrary, advocated the idea of ontological otherness of the human. Re-sponding to the challenges of anthropological catastrophe, its representatives propose a number of new anthropological projects.


2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 45-67
Author(s):  
Sayed Sikandar Shah ◽  
Mek Wok Mahmud

As an intellectual process, critical thinking plays a dynamic role in reconstructing human thought. In Islamic legal thought, this intellectual tool was pivotal in building a full-fledged jurisprudential system during the golden age of Islamic civilization. With the solidification of the science of Islamic legal theory and the entrenchment of classical Islamic jurisprudence, this process abated somewhat. Recent Islamic revival movements have engendered a great zeal for reinstituting this process. The current state of affairs in constructing and reconstructing Islamic jurisprudence by and large do not, however, reflect the dynamic feature of intellectual thought in this particular discipline. Thus this article attempts to briefly delineate this concept, unveil the reality on the ground, and identify some hands-on strategies for applying critical thinking in contemporary ijtihad.


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